426 ON THE PRICE OF FISH. 



quarters of the year, the later ones do not distinguish the date 

 of the entries so accurately. 



I have taken, though with great misgivings, the pottle of 

 Winchester to mean the fourth of a bushel. I suspect however 

 that it is a local measure "of much larger dimensions, and to 

 be probably a willow basket which was very little short of a 

 bushel. This view seems to be supported by the price during 

 the second register of Winchester College for the ten years 

 1684-1693 inclusive. During this time the price greatly 

 varies. In 1684, they are 6d. a hundred; in 1685, %d. ; in 

 1686 and 1687, nearly is. ; in 1688, is.; in 1689 and 1690, 

 6d '. ; in 1691 and 1692, 8d. ; in 1693, again is. During these 

 ten years the College accounts for the purchase of 23,300 

 oysters. In the six years of the earlier account, 1640-1645, it 

 accounts for 137 pottles ; and if I can conclude from a solitary 

 entry in 1641, the pottle must have contained about four 

 hundred oysters. It is very possible, then, that I have 

 exaggerated the Winchester price during these six years. 

 Perhaps hereafter some one may discover what the Winchester 

 measure was. 



The following tables contain I. the annual averages of 

 haberden and great ling, or salsamenta; II. the decennial 

 averages of haberden, great ling or salsamenta, small ling, 

 herrings by the barrel and by the hundred, and oysters by the 

 bushel and hundred. In the sixth column of the last table 

 the accuracy of the decades 1633-1642, 1643-1652 depends 

 on the interpretation which I have given of the Winchester 

 pottle, which is, I repeat, suspicious. 



